In the winter of 1852 Giuseppe Verdi attended the performance of La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils in Paris, the story of a well-known prostitute of the time, of her impossible love and of the reconquest of her dignity through suffering and death. The sensitive topic, taken from a news story, stimulates the creative imagination of the composer who is always looking for new dramaturgical solutions. A few months later, from the partnership with the librettist Francesco Maria Piave, one of the most performed and loved operas of all time was born - La traviata - which debuted at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 6 March 1853. The subject was "certainly effective", as defined by Verdi himself in his correspondence, sees the reasons of the heart opposed to those of the right-thinking and hypocritical society: in the setting of a pleasure-loving Paris, animated by waltzes, parties and sequins, the drama of Violetta Valéry takes place, one of the most complexes of Verdi's dramaturgy. Condemned a priori by the same society of which she is the daughter of her for her condition as a lost woman, Violetta is not allowed to experience true love or redeem herself from an unhappy past. She will therefore have to give in to bourgeois conventions and renounce her love for Alfredo, but nevertheless she will be transformed by the composer into a true tragic heroine thanks to the powerful means of music.

Staging by Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Illustration © Gianluigi Toccafondo

2024 pictures

Tickets for all the performances will go on sale on July 10, 2026